Cycling log. March 4th. Yes, this is a bicycle!

All major lessons of yesterday are proving themselves important sustainable repeatable.

Yes, as with a traditional bicycle the purpose of each stroke is to thrust down and through the bottom of the stroke. But the recumbent bottom is some angle between 90° to perpendicular and probably 140 degrees.

Insight tonight on what impact where the bottom is. In a conventional bicycle gravity is key to sensing that full extension is down. In a recumbent gravity is somewhat a Miss Q. In zero gravity bottom would be probably 100 or 110 degrees from perpendicular. But gravity acts as a downward vector and somewhat increases that angle. Speed of rotation also effects where that natural terminating bottom is. Aggressiveness of the thrust also is a determinent. If necessity for high power and or freshness of the legs allows for a time the legs can comfortably set the angle hire more toward zero gravity 110 degrees. But where endurance or fatigue or both are factors then there is virtue in finding the center somewhat lower, 120 degrees at cetera.

In case it is necessary to repeat, the bottom is for the knees an end of the thighs including the bottom under part of the thighs under the knee. Bottom is not for the feet on the crank. So far, maybe a blessing that will not continue, so far it has been quite natural to implement somewhat automatically that the bottom being reached is with the knees as just described and not the feet. It is not assumed that this happy clarity will be maintained by the body but it  Might, as it is quite natural on a conventional bike.

Yesterday and new electronic hergear was mentioned. This under 30 dollar handlebar mounted plug in component, A+ button and a - button works with the vehicle brain allowing preset to be established within a range. So for the second day now the benefit of effectively 10 gears, really 30 gears because three different ranges can also be selected with a 3 position switch, this is now instead of being a cumbersome 6 gear vehicle on this arduous climb, now is between s10 and 30-gear vehicle. Unlike traditional gears which this vehicle has, these gears are not used to change the effort required for different vehicle speed, but rather to change effort required at the same speed but for difference in climbs. This because of certain mechanical limits, not hinderences, but limits, that limit  minimal vehicle speed to two and a half or 3 miles an hour at a reasonable cadence of 60 or 70 or 80 RPM. So although we have been doing this arduous climb every other day for almost 4 months, these last two days are the first time we have a effective gearing system that is at all normal for a cyclist. Quite a nice thing.

Probably for most cyclists even some very high performance cyclists on conventional bicycles the instant of arrival of the leg at bottom is a miniscule but significant rest  each cycle. And instant point of neutrality. The benefits of the mental imagery describe yesterday and today include that now this recumbent cyclist James is also having the benefit of that instant  relaxed neutral point at the bottom of each cycle. Possibly little more than psychological relief but that it is. At least. Probably more.

And the ongoing Miracle of the particularly strong last 15% of the journey became less mysterious tonight. The central issue is the necessity and effectiveness of knowing where the full extension is, the full thigh extension as discussed above and yesterday. This is a function of a number of things. What happens in the last 10% which is the steepest and the body is the most fatigued, the body by this point figures out, okay, searching subtly for exactly where the full out stroke is, nice idea body, but we don't have that energy or luxury right now. So you can ascertain, you can establish where that end point is, that. Stroke is, by making certain that your stroke, downstroke speed,  is constant velocity every stroke. That will establish the same reliable spot stroke after stroke after stroke after stroke. This probably can be implemented throughout the journey but that remains to be seen.